olivia cervantes

After a weekend off, Chivas USA’s first team returned fully replenished this morning to The Home Depot Center to continue training for this Saturday’s final home game of the season. The Goats started off their morning with two-touch passing exercises and then proceeded to several round-robin scrimmages.

While two teams held a scrimmage in reduced spaces, a third team headed to an exclusive session with strength and conditioning coach Jim Liston: The Chivas Olympics. The first exercise consisted of a combination of strength and endurance as each player tossed a sandbag to one end of the finish line and jogged back to the start. The second exercise was based on power to see what pair of players can throw the furthest, and the third exercise consisted of accuracy, which involved the pair of players throwing the sandbag exactly to the finish line.

The only team that was able to “gold” in all three exercises was Peter Vagenas and John Valencia, whose language barrier did not stand in the way of their teamwork. James Riley and Tristan Bowen finished with two “golds” after winning the power and accuracy exercises.

It’s never too early to start preparing for a match as Chivas USA returned to The Home Depot Center’s Field 6 today for another day of training. The team is off this weekend due to the FIFA date this Friday, but has already started preparing for the next match against Colorado Rapids set for Saturday, Oct. 20. The Goats had Monday off, but had an offsite session at a local beach on Tuesday.

It was a cloudy and windy morning as the Goats started training off with warm-ups and a light run before splitting into groups of five for passing drills. After this exercise, the squad split into two groups for a short scrimmage; all players except for goalkeepers, participated in this exercise. The team was then split into four squads to have two separate scrimmages in reduced spaces, with goalkeepers present at goal.

Midfielder Miller Bolaños was out of today’s training as he continues receiving treatment. Meanwhile, defender Danny Califf returned to training after missing last Wednesday’s game at Vancouver due to illness. After training, CDChivasUSA.com caught up with Califf who said he’s happy to be back to work.

Defender Ante Jazic and midfielder Oswaldo Minda weren’t at training, as they are currently with their respective national teams. Jazic and the Canadians will face Cuba this Friday at 4:30 p.m. PT; Minda and Ecuador will match up against Chile on Friday at 4:30 p.m. PT.

Ecuadorian midfielder Miller Bolaños made his ninth consecutive start in tonight’s 1-1 draw with FC Dallas. Throughout the first and beginning of second half, Bolaños created great scoring opportunities (two shots on goal) for the Goats, but was unable to get one into the back of the net. Then in the 79th minute, Bolaños stopped running and left the field. Why? According to Assistant Athletic Trainer Derek Lawrance, it was the cause of a minor ankle sprain. A minute later, Head Coach Robin Fraser replaced the injured midfielder with Frenchman Laurent Courtois.

The Goats have this weekend off and due to yellow card accumulation, Bolaños will miss Chivas USA’s next match against Colorado Rapids, allowing the midfielder to have full recuperation ahead of the final match of the season at Dallas.

Upon their return from Vancouver Thursday afternoon, Chivas USA returned to practice this morning ahead of this Sunday’s match against FC Dallas in The Home Depot Center.

The starting eleven in last Wednesday’s match at Vancouver reported directly to the facility’s gym at 10 a.m. sharp. Strength and Conditioning Coach Jim Liston led a set of exercises that included stretching and weight training.

Meanwhile, the rest of the team reported to Field 6 for training with Head Coach Robin Fraser and Assistant Coach Greg Vanney. Three players that did not join practice were Tim Melia, Casey Townsend and Ryan Smith, who are all listed as injured. Melia is currently recovering from low back pain. As reported, rookie Townsend suffered a calf strain on Tuesday and was not able to make the trip to up to Vancouver. Last but not least, Smith is recovering from a concussion he suffered in the team’s last home game against Real Salt Lake.

Chivas USA arrived early this morning at The Home Depot Center’s Field 6 for a final training session before flying to Vancouver. With training at 7:40 a.m., the team began warming up and then proceeded to one-touch passing.

Forward Casey Townsend picked up an injury during a scrimmage but continued training with team staff in separate exercises. Goalkeeper Patrick McLain continues filling in for an injured Tim Melia.

The team will arrive in Vancouver this afternoon ahead of tomorrow’s match against Whitecaps FC at BC Place in the third and final match of the season between the two clubs. The first two games were played at The Home Depot Center; the first encounter was a 1-0 victory for the Whitecaps on March 17. Vancouver returned to Carson on July 7 and played to a scoreless draw with Chivas. The Goats have an overall record of 0-1-3 (W-L-T) against the Whitecaps.

The nominees for MLS Save of the Week are up, and surprisingly, Dan Kennedy is not the Goat among the nominees, but rather, defender John Valencia!

Valencia’s save in the 56th minute of the match proved that saves are not just for goalkeepers. If you missed last Saturday’s game and didn’t watch the highlights, Valencia made a sliding save to keep RSL’s Javier Morales’ shot from passing the goal line and taking the ball out for a corner kick. After the save, Valencia received praise not only from the fans but Dan Kennedy himself.

After having Sunday off, Chivas USA returned to training this morning ahead of tomorrow’s flight to Vancouver. Upon their arrival in Vancouver, the Goats will not be able to train; therefore, all final preparations for Wednesday’s 7 pm match against Vancouver Whitecaps FC had to be set today. All players reported to today’s training with the exception of Ryan Smith who was attending Chivas USA’s first career panel of the year.

Training continued as usual, starting off with light warm-ups followed by short scrimmages. Players that went the full 90 minutes in last Saturday’s match against Real Salt Lake had light training and were sidelined thereafter while the remaining group resumed training.

Goalkeeper Tim Melia was seen in full uniform, but did not train with the team. Melia has been out of training since mid-September for low back pain. Cdchivasusa.com asked Melia how his recovery was going and he responded, “I’ve been feeling good. There are days when I’m fine but then the next day, it’s not. I’m just taking it day-by-day.”

On another note, haircuts seem to be the trend in the Red-and-White locker room. Last week, it was defender Rauwshan McKenzie and Miller Bolaños, and now this week, Jorge Villafaña. Check out the photo:

It’s an annual ritual for every team to take a team photo, and on Wednesday it was Chivas USA’s turn. After practice, everyone headed to the locker room to prepare. Despite being the first one dressed and ready to go, Jorge Villafaña was the last one to step out onto the field for the photo. And to hush all of the rumors out there, General Manager Jose Domene was indeed a part of the team picture (and yes, he was wearing one of his many crazy pairs of socks- check out the photo below).

Expect the final photo to be available soon, but until then, here’s a behind-the-scenes photo gallery of what went down today:

We know, we know. Like every other week, Kennedy’s heroics haven’t gone unnoticed and are nominated for MLS Save of the Week. With two games played last week and seven saves, which one Kennedy’s heroics was nominated for MLS Save of the Week? The save that received the nomination was from last Sunday’s match at D.C. United in the 13th minute, when NickDeLeon struck a shot from outside the 18-yard box. Luckily for the Goats, Kennedy’s cat-like reflexes were able to reach for the ball and take it out for a corner kick, avoiding D.C. to take an early lead.